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By BRYAN GILMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- A St. Petersburg police officer remains on paid administrative leave and had not been arrested Tuesday, three days after Gulfport police labeled him as a suspect in an attempt to rob a man at gunpoint.
Although evidence in the case points to St. Petersburg police Officer Antonio Terrell Garner, Gulfport police Lt. Larry Tosi Jr. said detectives do not have a positive visual identification of Garner.
Detectives also have found nothing to discredit 36-year-old Christopher Croley's account that a man with Garner's general build pointed a handgun at him in the parking lot of a Gulfport apartment complex 6:45 a.m. Saturday, demanding that he give up all his money.
Croley said he was able to escape without handing over money, then follow the assailant's white Ford Bronco long enough to get the vehicle's license plate number.
Officers found the vehicle at Garner's St. Petersburg home Saturday. Garner drove away on a motorcycle when a Gulfport police officer arrived to question him about the robbery attempt. Garner is free on $150 bond after being charged with obstructing an officer.
Gulfport police are consulting with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, which will decide when or if an attempted armed robbery charge is appropriate, Tosi said.
Garner, 32, has been an officer with the St. Petersburg Police Department for six years, including nearly two years as a vice and narcotics detective. He was transferred from vice back to the uniformed patrol division on Sept. 25, his personnel file shows.
He has never received a formal reprimand, his records show, but there are 22 records of complaints or internal investigations involving him. Except for two patrol car wrecks Garner could have avoided (he received remedial driver training), his superiors found the accusations of discourtesy, excessive force, among others unfounded.
- Times staff writers Leanora Minai and Mike Brassfield contributed to this story.